“When we’re distracted our inhibitors for emotional impulse are weaker and we fall prey to what appeals right now, without thinking about the consequences.” As Daniel Goldman explains, when we’ve had a bad week and decide to take a trip to our favorite store, we just think about what will make us happy now. When we buy a new pair of jeans and a shirt and shoes to go with it, we really aren’t concerned with where they came from or the amount of carbon released to produce them. Consumers simply just want what will make them happy now, they don’t really think about what consequences buying this product could potentially have on their future. As he described, every product has a hidden price.
This, however, should not be the case today. We have grown up in a generation where issues about the environment and global warming have been basically engraved in our brains. Goldman discusses, basically how we have our grandparents to blame for these problems of today. When new inventions and technologies were coming around, no one was thinking, in fact even knew what global warming was, so why should have they worried about this. Unlike our grandparents, however, we have access to the knowledge to slow down, and even reverse the problems we as a society have created. We have so many networks and connections over which information can be spread at rapid rates and between millions of people. He describes how we actually need to act more like insects and share our information. Like we’ve been discussing in class, you need the help of others in order to succeed and be successful. Not everyone can do everything alone.
A carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event or product. Even though many are working to decrease their overall carbon footprint there are so many products still being created that we don’t even recognize as being bad for the environment. One key example of this is sunscreen. Who would ever imagine that using sunscreen and protecting yourself from harmful UV rays could be dangerous for the environment? Well, actually many sunscreens contain a key ingredient that can wash off in the water. When this ingredient washes off, it is harmful and can kill coral. In the end, we are making products that we don’t even know are bad for the environment, but now there is more information available to us to help us know when things are good or bad.
Another example of this are things like organic cotton tees. As he discusses, yes they are a little better because they don’t use pesticides and fertilizers that can runoff into our limited water supply, but they still use dyes to color them that can potentially harm the environment. The more urban the setting the more surface runoff there is. As we know ground water provides >25% of the nations water supply and over 50% of the U.S. relies on groundwater for drinking water. Also, by not using fertilizers that may contain carbon and nitrogen, which may create explosive algae growth that in turn depletes oxygen in water possibly harming other species, these tees are a good cause. However, although organic cotton tees help with conserving one of our most valuable resources, water, they still affect other aspects of the environment in a negative way. Global warming is a problem but so is human activity that destroys natural resources such as leveling a rainforest. If lands are being destroyed by human activity to produce cotton for t-shirts this can be even more devastating than global warming. Global warming occurs over decades and can be slowed or reversed. Human activity that destroys so many valuable resources, however, causes immediate loss and is irreversible.
Today there are resources such as skin deep and goodguide.com that provide us with information on the truth about a variety of products. These resources provide us with the knowledge and power to know what is the best choice for us as consumers to purchase. They are a “for-benefit” corporation and help to give consumers product's back-story. They provide such things as the overall health, social, and environment ratings, along with things like potentially harmful ingredients and chemicals. Easy Mac for example, a food consumed very commonly among college students has an overall health rating of only 1.0 and is said to contain artificial colors that could lead to health issues such as ADHD. Without good guide, what do you think your chances of knowing information like that would be? My guess would be slim to none. These resources are creating radical transparency and creating a competitive marketplace “bringing squarely into awareness the actual impacts of what we buy.” It’s also interesting to learn that many of the very expensive products are actually much worse than the cheaper products. So when many say that can’t afford to help in saving the environment, they really just don’t know the facts.
Although these databases don’t contain information of every product, this is just the beginning. Hopefully, these will be able to expand and word will spread about them hopefully having an impressive overall effect. All the information is being handed right to us. If we don’t do anything now, then when will we?
At http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/, you can actually calculate what your approximate carbon footprint is. "Inevitably, in going about our daily lives — commuting, sheltering our families, eating — each of us contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Yet, there are many things each of us, as individuals, can do to reduce our carbon emissions. The choices we make in our homes, our travel, the food we eat, and what we buy and throw away all influence our carbon footprint and can help ensure a stable climate for future generations.
Use The Nature Conservancy's carbon footprint calculator to measure your impact on our climate. Our carbon footprint calculator estimates how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your choices create each year."
Try it... you might be surprised and maybe even influenced to help to make a change.
- www.pbs.org/moyers
- Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goldman
- Class lecture, final water
- www.goodguide.com
- http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
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